The size and complexity of many facilities and increased possibility of an emergency evacuation from such facilities suggest benefits of a simple system to monitor occupancy of the facility, such that emergency workers can determine rapidly the status of evacuation, and have a reasonable indication where in the facility an individual not reported as having evacuated the facility might be located. In non-emergency situations, such a system provides a census of occupancy, and for vehicles, such as school busses, the system indicates individuals boarding and exiting the vehicle, and re-boarding after stops, such as after a field trip. Such monitoring systems improve safety and simplify certain supervisory responsibilities of organizations with in loco parentis responsibilities.
Wireless means have been described to assist in the evacuation of non-ambulatory individuals from a fixed structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,621 issued May 27, 1997 to McDonald describes a system whereby a non-ambulatory individual may enter confidential information including name, destination in the facility, and the nature or extent of disability into a building monitoring system. Rescue workers may access such information and determine the location of individuals that may require special assistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,860 issued Feb. 19, 2002 to Davis and Shock describes an evacuation monitoring system in which evacuation wardens visually inspect designated areas and evacuation routes from a given area and activate a reporting system at a remote location to indicate the status of each inspected area.
Tag tracking affords an additional means to track articles, including individuals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,781 issued Apr. 3, 2001 to McDonald describes a device and method of tracking articles within a facility using electronic signals.
Thus, there remains room and need for the development of a system to monitor ingress/egress of facilities.